CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When Kenny Pickett arrived at Bank of America Stadium last week to sign his contract with the Carolina Panthers, the vibe was a little different than the last time he’d been in the team’s executive and coaches’ offices.
That came in 2022 when Pickett made a pre-draft visit to Charlotte, where Matt Rhule and Scott Fitterer were in charge of the football operation, Sam Darnold was the top returning quarterback but would be joined by Matt Corral and Baker Mayfield.
“A lot of new faces this time around coming down here,” Pickett said.
Those include quarterback Bryce Young and coach Dave Canales, both of whom Pickett has spent time with previously. Pickett, who signed a one-year, $4 million guaranteed deal with Carolina, met Young at the Heisman Trophy ceremony in 2021 and caught up with him again a few years later when the Cleveland Browns came to Charlotte for a joint practice and preseason game with the Panthers.
“He’s a great guy. I respect him and his journey that he’s been on,” Pickett said Tuesday during a Zoom call with reporters. “Seems like he’s constantly working, constantly trying to improve and seems like a great person. So definitely looking forward to working with him.”
Pickett had a similar take on Canales, who, as a Seattle Seahawks assistant, came to his pro day at Pittsburgh. The two grabbed lunch at a local spot called Fat Head’s Saloon.
“Really just enjoyed my time with him. Just a great person, one of the guys you really want to be around in this league, in this profession,” Pickett said. “Tough business, but great people make it a lot easier.”
After the hometown Steelers drafted Pickett with the 20th pick, Pickett started two seasons for Mike Tomlin, going 14-10 and finishing with as many interceptions (13) as touchdowns (13). Pickett has spent the past two years as a backup in Philadelphia and Las Vegas.
And while becoming a starter again remains his “ultimate goal,” Pickett said it’s not his immediate focus in Carolina, where veteran Andy Dalton also remains on the roster.
“I really just wanted to get in a great system with great people. That’s just where I’m at right now,” he said. “I’m really not trying to look too far down the road. I want to be a positive addition to this team and help any way I can.”
In the meantime, Pickett will bide his time in a stadium that was the site of one of his greatest football memories — Pitt’s 45-21 over Wake Forest in the 2021 ACC Championship Game. Pickett started the scoring that night with a 58-yard touchdown run in which he deked the Demon Deacons with a fake slide — a play the NCAA outlawed days later.
“It was all just kind of improv, I guess. Just playing football,” Pickett said with a smile. “I was gonna go down and slide and figured I might as well keep going. So it worked out well.”